


Skeptics and True Believers

by revamped



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, HP: Epilogue Compliant, Harry Potter Next Generation, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Minor Character Death, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Sibling Bonding, Teenage Drama, seriously it's kids being kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 00:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/893570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revamped/pseuds/revamped
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Would you believe me if I said I didn't need you, 'cause I wouldn't believe you if you said the same to me.</i>
</p><p>A compilation of ficlets revolving around the main second-generation kids during their Hogwarts days involving the tales of friendship, love, loss, and other ridiculous things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Written on a whim when I noticed there were certain things I'd love to see in second-gen fic that I couldn't find so I decided to write on my own. As the tags say, this will eventually evolve into Scorpius/Rose and Scorpius/Albus Severus.
> 
> This started without me really thinking about how this was compiled, just that they all were tied together, and then I realized it's sort of like Skins, the TV show. Character chapters with individual stories that tie into each other.
> 
> Anyway. These stories will mostly revolve around Al-Sev, Rose, Scorpius, James Sirius, Lily Luna and Hugo. Others will make grand appearances in appropriate stories, but once I write a chapter for each kid we start the cycle over. The first cycle's going to focus on a sort of prequel to the setting that I want for the "main" story, so the second cycle is when the really shippy things pop up. Until then, enjoy!
> 
> *PS this is currently un-beta'd because I'm tired and lazy. But I'll get it to, sorry about me.

The last thing her father had told her was to beat the Malfoy boy in every test. Rose could only guess that he _probably _hadn’t thought she would take it quite as literally as she did.__

__It wasn’t as though she was boarding the Hogwarts Express alone. Though it was only her first year attending the school she had grown up hearing about, she felt as though she knew far more about the system than she should. Her mother had already told her to watch out for Albus Severus as it was his first year as well, and Rose knew that you didn’t mess with family. Family came before everything, and if James wasn’t going to watch out for his little brother on the train, then she would just have to do his job for him._ _

__She was older than her cousin by almost a full year and her confidence radiated from her as she and Albus boarded the train. The boy’s ferret chirped from his cage as they weaved their way through the crowd of students milling around to find compartments, finding friends they had departed from at the beginning of summer. Rose had made sure Albus walked in front of her because she sort of knew what to expect._ _

__Whispers filled the air as people started poking their heads out of compartments and pointing indiscreetly at Albus as he passed by. Rose couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Yes he was Harry Potter’s second son. Yes he looked just like his father, but honestly the hero worship should have died when James attended school for the first time two years ago. Rose knew how this story was going to go. People were going to want to be their friends based solely on the fact that their parents were war heroes._ _

__Albus, of course, wanted to be friends with everyone and get along with everyone. Albus wasn’t one to involve himself with conflict unless absolutely necessary._ _

__It was just one more reason that Rose needed to look after him._ _

__“Come on, this one’s empty,” she said in her cousin’s ear, pointing to a compartment they were approaching. Albus nodded quickly and practically flew through the open doors with his trunk, leaving Rose to slip in after him and shut the door behind them. If Albus didn’t look nervous before boarding the train, he certainly did now._ _

__“…do people really expect us to be like our parents?” he asked uncertainly as he climbed up onto the bench seat opposite of Rose. She frowned at him, shrugging nonchalantly._ _

__“Probably. But who says we have to be?” She brushed off the subject, suddenly clapping her hands in delight. “Hey! Your birthday was last week but I never gave you a proper gift. Come on. Let’s go find the trolley witch and I’ll buy you something.”_ _

__“Rose…” he replied in a warning tone. “I really don’t think—“_ _

__“At least a Cauldron Cake. Mum let me practice some flame spells this summer. I bet I have candles somewhere in my trunk. We can make it a nice birthday cake and I’ll go get Jamie and bully him into singing for you just to humiliate him.” She knew he would. James, despite how often he teased his siblings, was actually a very good big brother. She’d know. They had a special bond that only elder children understood. She didn’t leave room for protesting and soon latched onto Albus’s sleeve, grabbing him and yanking him out of the compartment to track down the sweets trolley._ _

__Lucky for them the plump little witch wasn’t too far off and Rose herded her cousin forward. The witch was busy helping someone that Rose couldn’t see and it wasn’t until the witch turned her head to face them that she caught a flash of white-blond hair._ _

__As Albus spoke with the trolley witch, sweet smiles and polite gestures, Rose got her first proper look at the Malfoy heir. Scorpius stood on the other side of the trolley, tucking change into his pocket and juggling a handful of pumpkin pasties with one hand._ _

__He wasn’t that impressive to look at if she were honest with herself. Gangly thing like Albus and maybe a few inches shorter than herself (though it was no secret she was tall for a girl her age.) His hair gleamed under the lights in the aisle of the train and when he looked up at her she noticed that his eyes were a grey-blue. She also noticed he was blatantly staring at her fiery red hair. She had expected him to sneer, maybe to make a rude comment. She had heard her father talk about what a prat the senior Malfoy was all the time and honestly she was sort of expecting the same from his son. What she wasn’t expecting though was for the boy, Scorpius, to give a funny little smile and bend his way to the side around the trolley, strolling down the aisle back toward the compartment he came from. She was left staring at the space he had just been in, blinking a few times to make sure she hadn’t just imagined it._ _

__“Hey, Rose!” Albus cut in, jabbing her in the shoulder lightly. “What do you want?”_ _

__She glanced down the aisle one more time before her attention returned to the witch in front of her._ _

__Whatever._ _

__All she had to do was be sorted into Gryffindor like the rest of her family and beat the Malfoy boy in all of her exams. It definitely wasn’t a hard challenge at all._ _

__\-----------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__Slytherin. Not Gryffindor._ _

__She still wasn’t entirely sure if she believed the Sorting Hat at all._ _

__Albus had, predictably, been sorted into Gryffindor and so naturally Rose expected the same for herself. She had practically bounced her way forward to the stool and slammed the hat on her head, waiting for it to announce to the hall that she was the last Gryffindor to be sorted for the year._ _

__The silence was almost deafening when the brim of the hat opened and shouted “SLYTHERIN!”_ _

__Every single one of her cousins that were still attending Hogwarts stared at her as she walked down the steps from the stool, slinking her way toward the Slytherin table. She was no longer radiating confidence like she had on the train. In fact, she almost looked as though she’d rather have the ground open up and swallow her whole._ _

__Her father was going to be really, really mad, wasn’t he?_ _

__She didn’t say anything for the rest of the opening feast, barely listening to a word Professor McGonagall was saying. She still didn’t say a word as the Slytherin Prefects ushered the first years down to the dungeons toward the dorms, and it was only when she was placed in her new sleeping quarters with the other first year girls that Rose realized that this was her new life and she had to make the best of it. She wasn’t a quitter. She was smart, and more importantly she knew how to make things work to her advantage._ _

__Maybe that was why the hat placed her here after all._ _

__She idly chatted with the girls in her room before excusing herself to head up to the common room, amazed that the room was still comfortable despite being in the bottom of the lake. Other students were currently spread out among the room, curled up in armchairs, chatting amicably with their friends and catching up from the summer hols. Her brown eyes flitted across faces, trying to memorize who was who based on bits of conversation. It was only when she reached the entry to the boys’ dorm that she saw him again still staring at her hair. She lifted both eyebrows at him, a warning of sorts, but he hardly reacted. Instead he gave her another mischievous smile before turning on his heel and disappearing into the boys’ dormitory._ _

__Boys, Rose decided, were a strange creature no matter what house they were sorted into._ _

__It wasn’t until breakfast the next morning that Rose saw Scorpius again, though she was a tad surprised he was by himself and not with the boys from his dorm. He was sitting alone with a sketchbook propped open in front of him, scratching down who-knew-what in between bites of eggs from his plate. He looked up from his plans briefly and spotted Rose, eyes immediately moving back to her hair before he smirked and went back to his paper._ _

__Rose had had enough. She broke away from the girls she had walked into the hall with and flounced toward the table, sitting down directly across from the Malfoy heir and staring him down._ _

__“ _Why_ do you keep smirking at me and my hair?” she said without any sort of warning. Scorpius hardly looked up from his work, shrugging slightly as he went._ _

__“It’s a funny color. Means you’re a Weasley, right?”_ _

__She couldn’t fault him for that. The red hair _was_ quite infamous._ _

__“I don’t smirk at your hair for being a Malfoy,” she replied, folding her arms over her chest._ _

__“Well no. You shouldn’t.”_ _

__And the conversation stopped. Rose continued sitting before him, watching him sketch and map and draw arrows all over the page in his book. She leaned forward on her elbows, hovering over him to see if she could decipher what he was doing. It wasn’t until he almost ran his quill over a lock of her hair that Scorpius stopped writing, looking up at Rose with a small glare._ _

__“What are you doing?”_ _

__“I should be asking you that,” she counted. Scorpius looked around to make sure they weren’t about to be overheard, and even so took the precaution to lean forward to whisper into Rose’s ear._ _

__“Dad told me there used to be a lot of passageways hidden around the school to sneak out through. I’m mapping out the best ones.” He turned his notebook then, showing Rose a more proper view of his diagrams. She traced passages with her index finger, humming under her breath as she started letting her mind wander with the idea._ _

__“…you’re missing the very best one. My uncle told me about one that leads right into Honeydukes,” she said almost proudly._ _

__Scorpius suddenly looked as though he’d just been offered a lifetime supply of sweets from the shop itself._ _

__“ _Really?_ Tell me.” _ _

__“What do I get in exchange, Malfoy?”_ _

__“…wanna come with me, Weasley?”_ _

__And really, how could she say no to that?_ _

__\-----------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__Her friendship with the Malfoy boy was very tentative at best, and she wasn’t even sure it was worth calling it a friendship. Half the time that they spent in each other’s company was spent comparing theories and plans, and the other half was spent sniping at one another. Even so, it was much more entertaining to her than the idle gossip that the girls in her dorm liked to chat about during their time together._ _

__It was also just enough for Albus to notice something was amiss._ _

__Even though they hadn’t been sorted into Gryffindor together, Rose and Albus knew that house rivalries weren’t stronger than family. The pair had taken to meeting in the library every Thursday to study together and to meeting with various family members and each other on the weekends. It was the middle of October on one of their Thursdays that Albus decided to bring up the Malfoy subject. She knew he was choosing his words carefully. Albus always did in situations he was wary of._ _

__“You’ve been spending a lot of time with the Malfoy kid,” he said breezily as he flipped through his copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1._ _

__“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Alley-Cat, but we share a house. We share a lot of classes. It’s kind of hard not to.” She couldn’t help but feel a little pleased at the way her cousin blanched at the new nickname._ _

__“No I know _that_ , but I mean…you’re with him a lot. What about the girls in your dorm?”_ _

__“Who put you up to this, Al? Roxy? It was Roxy, wasn’t it?”_ _

__“ _No_ ,” Albus groaned, burying his head in his hands. “I’m just curious what you see in him, that’s all. Don’t you remember the stories Uncle Ron and my dad told us about Malfoys?” _ _

__“Yeah, but I also remember the stories Dad and Uncle Harry told us about their time as heroes. Most of the school does, too.” She finished the sentence she was scrawling out on her piece of parchment before looking up. “If you’re worried he’s going to hex me or something, don’t. I can handle him perfectly fine on my own.” She resumed her writing. “Besides, he’s interesting.”_ _

__She heard Albus snort, but she still didn’t look up. “He’s kind of annoying. He’s way too loud, and I heard he was the one responsible for filling the Gryffindor showers with flobberworms.”_ _

__She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she’d helped Scorpius gather the flobberworms in the first place. Instead she just patted him on the elbow, looking at him with sympathy that was threatening to be overtaken by amusement._ _

__“Have you talked to him properly? He’s not bad in small doses.”_ _

__Her mother would have been so proud of her negotiation skills. Hell, she was proud because that was the final straw and Albus sighed loudly before dropping the subject completely._ _

__As she and Albus parted their separate ways from the library, Rose’s mind was already focused on her next assignment as she headed down toward the dungeons. It wasn’t until she rounded the corner that she spotted Scorpius ahead of her cornered into an alcove. She vaguely recognized the third year boy, another Gryffindor in James’ year. McLaggen, she thought._ _

__“—Death Eater scum!” She caught the tail-end of McLaggen’s sentence. She stopped in her tracks and backed up, peering around the corner to watch. Scorpius had a grip on the shoulder strap of his bag and the other hand held his wand. Rose could see from her place that his knuckles were slowly turning white._ _

__“Shut up.” It wasn’t the blonde’s best comeback._ _

__“Or what? Going to cry to your father so he can AK me like he murdered all of those other people?”_ _

__It was a sound almost like a feral animal and Rose was surprised when Scorpius’s wand suddenly flew up to McLaggen’s nose._ _

__“ _My father isn’t a murderer!_ ” McLaggen’s lips were suddenly sealed shut and a rope flew from the end of Scorpius’s wand, wrapping itself around the older boy’s ankles and hoisting him in the air to hang from a hook in the alcove. The scowl on the Slytherin boy’s face was enough to almost scare Rose…or it would have been if Scorpius hadn’t ruined it by running past her practically in tears. _ _

__It was an interesting development, to say the least. She had to wonder if he had to put up with people bullying him often now that he was at school, and for the first time it dawned on her that if the heroes had children, surely the villains who survived had children, too._ _

__She pretended not to notice how quiet Scorpius was that evening, and she spared him the embarrassment of calling him out on his half-hearted attempts to explain his reasoning for his potions essay. It wasn’t until the next morning that she realized she had the perfect plan right in front of her. As usual Scorpius was already in the Great Hall by the time she made it downstairs, but now she had a feeling she knew exactly why. His nose was practically on top of his notebook as he hunched over making new diagrams. She didn’t bother sitting down as she grabbed him by the bicep, easily hauling him up from his seat and snatching his notebook for him._ _

__“Come on,” she said as an explanation as he squawked at her, flailing in her grip as she marched toward the Gryffindor table. Though it wasn’t necessarily a guideline anymore that students only sit with members from their own house, many people still followed that tradition._ _

__Rose was never really a huge fan of tradition anyway._ _

__She forced Scorpius down onto a bench at the Gryffindor table directly across from Albus Severus. The two boys blinked at each other, expressions teetering on sneers even if they weren’t entirely sure why. Her other cousins were also staring at the Malfoy boy, not quite sure what to make of him._ _

__Naturally, it was James who spoke first._ _

__“What the hell is he doing here?”_ _

__Rose shrugged and clambered onto the bench next to Scorpius. “We’re sitting here now. Scorpius and I like to have reminders of our intelligence early in the morning, right, Scorpius?”_ _

__The blond boy wasn’t entirely sure what Rose was playing at, she could tell. He still followed along though and nodded. He was mostly back to his self-assured self that morning, but Rose guessed anyone would be nervous when staring right into the heart of the Potter-Weasley clan._ _

__“Sure. My dad may be an ex-Death Eater, but at least I’m not a Gryffindor,” he replied with faux arrogance (and okay, maybe some real arrogance. Rose was still trying to figure it out.) The tension at the table was thick, and even after Scorpius’s little jab at both himself and the others nobody was saying anything. It wasn’t until Dominique suddenly stood up from her place a few seats down to hover over Albus’s shoulder and peer at him that anyone responded at all._ _

__“Excuse you, but not all of us are Gryffindors,” she corrected him like a true Ravenclaw, but she was still smiling hesitantly. After that everyone seemed to relax and meld back into life as normal as ever, chattering among themselves and passing around food and mail that came from the owl post. The only one who still had yet to speak or move was Albus. The raven-haired boy had his arms folded over his chest again and his bright green eyes were boring straight into Scorpius’s skull. Likewise, Scorpius hadn’t moved and was sharing a very similar look with Albus. She almost thought to separate them and intervene, but she thought better of it the moment someone dropped a jam-filled pastry in front of her. They could glare at each other all they want. They’d get over it eventually._ _

__It wasn’t until dinner that evening that she heard both Albus and Scorpius were serving Saturday detentions for the next three weekends and saw that one was sporting a new black eye and the other had a puffy, swollen lip. Neither boy said a word about the state of their faces but they resumed their initial positions across from each other at the dinner table._ _

__“Pass the butter, will you?”_ _

__Somehow, Rose had a suspicion that whatever had happened had done more good than anything she could have done for them, and she pretended not to notice the way Albus was grinning at their new friend._ _

__\-----------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__Rose wasn’t quite sure when Scorpius had been un-officially adopted into the Potter-Weasley clan, but if she had to put a date on it she would guess it was somewhere right before the end of their first year. She could only assume everything had happened when she had been so busy preparing for exams. Surely that’s when Albus and Scorpius became thick as thieves._ _

__It hadn’t been an easy start for any of them, but Rose had to reason that most things that were worth it weren’t easy at all. She had to work hard to make sure she beat Scorpius’s exam marks (and even then he beat her in Transfiguration, the little rat.) She had to work hard to make sure anyone caught bullying her new best friend would become aware that they’d have to deal with the wrath from the Potter-Weasley family. She had to work hard to make sure Scorpius’s plans didn’t get too carried away and that Albus didn’t grow too serious._ _

__But was it worth it? Absolutely._ _

__Years later when she found herself in the Slytherin common room with Scorpius’s head in her lap and his feet in Albus’s lap, she couldn’t help but muse on the last seven years of their friendship. On the various summer sleepovers at each other’s homes. On the different nights they would sneak around the school. On the pranks Scorpius would design and she and Albus would help set into motion. On the fights they’d gotten into. On the times they’d offered shoulders to cry on and ears to listen and really? It was hard to imagine her world without these two stupid boys in it._ _

__“What’s so funny?” Albus suddenly asked as he noticed the smile on his cousin’s face. Rose shook her head, waving a hand to brush off the subject._ _

__“Nothing.” She knew that wouldn’t be good enough. “Imagining what Hyper-Scor’s hair would look like if it were bright pink.”_ _

__“Don’t even,” Scorpius mumbled, not even bothering to open his eyes. She pushed his hair back from his forehead, holding it into place as she and Albus shared a look. The dark-haired boy carefully leaned over, grabbing his wand from the arm of the couch and slowly bringing it down toward Scorpius’s scalp. Patches of neon pink appeared right in the center of platinum blond hair and Rose snickered again._ _

__“You don’t think it’d be a good look on you?”_ _

__“…what did you two just do.” Scorpius’s eyes flew open and he sat up, hands flying up to his hair._ _

__“Pink doesn’t clash too bad with green, you know.” Albus grinned brightly as he stealthily returned his wand to its original position._ _

__“Not funny!” Scorpius whined and flung himself off of the couch, darting off to find a mirror. Rose settled back into the corner of the couch and watched as Albus watched Scorpius._ _

__He had been doing that a lot lately, she realized. But then again, she had as well. Sometimes it was scary to think that things were changing between them, but at the same time she had to remember things and people change. She knew Al would always be around because he was family, but it was Scorpius she was worried about. She knew Al was just as worried. They had one more year at Hogwarts before they graduated, and they were both well-aware of Scorpius’s desire to run off and explore the world like his father had as soon as possible._ _

__Neither of them were quite ready to let him go, and neither of them quite realized that’s what it was._ _

__She pushed the thoughts toward the back of her mind though when she heard Scorpius’s rather girlish scream._ _

__“ **Rose Ophelia Weasley and Albus Severus Potter you are so dead!** ” _ _

__Albus returned his gaze to her and she met his eyes with a smile before they both dissolved into laughter, pushing themselves up from the couch with their wands to track down Scorpius._ _

__Things changed. People changed. But maybe she didn’t have to worry about it all just yet._ _


	2. Albus Severus

When Albus Severus discovered his Animagus form, he nearly died of embarrassment. 

The desire (never mind that Rose and Scor would call it an _obsession_ ) to become an Animagus arose around the middle of their fifth year. Even though he had been attending Hogwarts for several years, and even though James and Lily were also both at school, people still went out of their way to talk to him and continually be around him. Thanks to Scorpius and Rose he had grown more aware of what people genuinely were interested in being his friend and what people were genuinely interested in hearing about his father and getting an in with the Aurors.

The problem was that being more aware didn’t make everyone simply vanish. If only.

It had been by sheer accident that he found out his grandfather on his father’s side had been an Animagus. The name “Prongs” had appeared on an old piece of parchment Harry kept in his home office and after a bit of digging Albus had enough evidence to confront his father.

“Your grandfather became a stag to help and protect one of his dearest friends who was a werewolf.”

“Teddy’s dad,” Albus filled in instantly, causing Harry to smile. Never let it be said that his son was stupid. 

“Right. He and two of their other mates became Animagi together.” 

“…Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. They were all Animagi?” 

“Well, Moony was Remus but yes. I don’t really know how they did it or how long it took them, but they managed by the time they were around your age.” 

It was almost as if Harry had just given him permission right then and there. Mostly. Sort of.

…well, what his dad didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him and wouldn’t get back to the Auror department.

After Christmas Albus threw himself deep into his research without telling his dormmates or any of his family members what he was up to.

It was out of sheer desperation that he finally turned to Rose and Scorpius after the Easter holidays to ask for advice.

“Why do you want to be an Animagus anyway?” Scorpius asked without looking up from his notebook. Sometimes Albus wanted to shake him and throw the ruddy thing in the fireplace just so he’d pay attention to something else.

“Are you thick?” Rose cut in before Albus could respond. “What better way to hide from the Potter Junior fan club?” 

He wasn’t surprised to find that Rose understood. While she wasn’t the direct descendant of the Chosen One, she was the product of the other two big war heroes. Her dad was on a Chocolate Frog card, for Merlin’s sake. If anyone understood pressure as much as he and his siblings did, it was Rose.

“Exactly. I think it’d be really cool anyway.” 

Scorpius suddenly looked up and snapped his fingers. “Al. Albus, you have to turn into a dragon. I’ve always wanted a pet dragon. Or you should turn into an owl. You’d be so useful in orchestrating some of these other plans.” 

“I don’t think I get to pick.” Albus furrowed his eyebrows.

“Try anyway,” Scorpius argued before returning to his work. Albus had to resist the urge to groan out loud. Rose leaned over, draping her arms around him in a loose hug.

“I’ll check out the library and see if I can find anything. Maybe get a note to visit the Restricted Section, too. Professor Dewitt likes me enough.” 

It wasn’t much, but it was a better start than he had a few months ago.

\-------------------------------------------

In the first month after Albus told his two partners in crime what he was up to, the trio worked steadily to uncover more information on how Animagi shifting worked and the magic theory behind it. In May of that year though the project came to a screeching halt as O.W.L.s loomed nearer and Rose forced them into studying for those instead. Studying came to a halt when Scorpius received the news about his mother and left the school for two weeks. When the boy returned it was hard to get him interested again. Most days after he returned it was hard to get him to respond at all, but Albus couldn’t blame him. He knew Rose couldn’t either. O.W.L.s were upon them faster than they anticipated and soon summer sneaked up on them and they were saying goodbye as they stepped off of the Hogwarts Express into Kings Cross Station.

It was too suspicious to do a lot of real research in the house while he was home for the summer, but Albus thought a lot about what his form could be. It was nearing the beginning of August when he started having the dreams. He tried describing them to Rose and Scorpius but they still didn’t make sense to him.

_‘It’s like I’m a shadow of something I can’t see. I can just feel little things. I can tell I’m on four legs. I can tell I have a tail. I can tell I have heightened senses. Stuff like that. I think it’s a hint to what I am, but I can’t figure it out because it disappears way too fast.’_

As expected, Scorpius didn’t have much of a response. Albus knew he and Draco were busy clearing the Manor out and discarding most of his mother’s possessions that summer. Rose, on the other hand, immediately started theorizing with him which made him feel a tiny bit better.

Being back at Hogwarts for their sixth year meant two things. First and foremost, Scorpius was slowly starting to become himself again which was a relief. From that spawned revival of interest in Albus’s project and soon the three of them were back into their evening ritual. After dinner, Albus would try to join the two Slytherins in their common room and they would claim the couch closest to the fireplace. Albus and Rose would settle onto the cushions and Scorpius would sprawl on each of their laps despite the fact he was the tallest of them. Rose usually got his head and Albus somehow always got his long legs and feet.

“I bet you’re a guinea pig,” Rose said one evening in November when they were sitting on their couch. “All small and fluffy with little patches of black fur. I’m going to call you Patches,” she finished gleefully. He had a feeling she’d given this a bit too much thought.

“No way,” Scorpius interjected. If Albus craned his head forward a bit he could see that Scorpius was sketching out a rough drawing of a guinea pig. “Al said he could tell he had a tail. Guinea pigs don’t really have tails.” He crossed _guinea pig_ off of their list of possible animals, right under _stag, fish,_ and _snake_. (Rose and Scorpius both still stood by that it would have been fantastically ironic for him to be a snake though.) 

“Have you had any more dreams recently?” Rose asked in a quiet tone as to not draw attention. Albus paused to think.

“…whatever it is, it’s smaller than people. I was definitely looking up at people,” he mused. Everything was still far too broad for him to make a clear guess as to what he was able to accomplish, but the fact that he was still having dreams and studying the theory was encouraging. He had to be going in the right direction.

“I hope you’re a rabbit,” Scorpius chimed in.

“Rabbits don’t really have tails either.” Albus gave him a flat look. Scorpius just returned it with a charming grin.

“Yeah, but it’d still be hilarious.”

\-------------------------------------------

If anything, learning to become an Animagus was a fantastic test of his patience. Though more patient than his siblings, Albus was still Harry Potter’s son and really what that meant was that he considered waiting five minutes being more than patient. As their sixth year wore on, they were running out of resources and they were running out of time. Albus wanted to figure it out before they left school. Otherwise it’d be entirely pointless unless he wanted to disguise himself out in public once they graduated. They had added several more animals to the list of things Albus _wasn’t_ ( _rabbit, bear, unicorn,_ and, much to Scorpius’s chargin, _dragon_ were among them), but they weren’t much closer to narrowing down Albus’s true form.

Meanwhile, he had already started to practice in is dorm late at night. If he willed himself hard enough and really focused, he could feel his body trying to change but his mind not allowing it. It was like a really, really deep form of meditation. His mind wasn’t entirely sure what it wanted his body to turn into and therefore a sixteen-year-old boy he would remain. 

He continued practicing on his own even as they departed for the summer, corresponding with Rose and Scorpius when they were apart about his findings and discussing the possibilities when he met up with them in person. He knew he was right on the edge of grasping his form but it was dangling just out of reach. 

It was frustrating is what it was.

The beginning of seventh year proved to be just as busy as ever. Not only were they preparing for N.E.W.T.s, but Albus was Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor House this year which meant lots of extra practices and more things on his schedule that slowly ate up his research time. He would sometimes find moments in his day to wonder about his form, but more often than not those thoughts would get interrupted. Scorpius and Rose were busy, too, with similar activities and it was more of an unspoken agreement than anything. They needed to take a break from Albus’s project to really focus on finishing school (Rose’s objective) and going out with a bang (Scorpius’s.) 

He thought he would have been more bothered, but surprisingly Albus understood. And he didn’t push. That was that.

\-------------------------------------------

That morning’s practice had been a disaster. Saturday morning practices usually weren’t that bad but today Albus had to deal with one of his players colliding into a Beater bat, two of his players bickering with each other constantly, and his new Keeper failing to actually block any of the shots he was throwing his way. He tiredly called it quits, ushering his team into the locker room to shower and get the hell out. He took his time putting away the Quidditch equipment. He wanted to spend the least amount of time possible with his team at the moment lest he snap and go completely ballistic on them. By the time he entered the locker room the last of his players were disappearing through the doors and heading back up to the castle. Sighing heavily he opened his locker and grabbed his spare towel, stripping out of his Quidditch robes and heading toward the showers. Thankfully the others had left him plenty of warm water and he immediately ducked under the calming spray.

Nice was a complete understatement of how it felt. Steam was starting to billow up around him as hot water beat down on his tired muscles. He closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander a bit as he felt himself relaxing under the stream of the showerhead.

_‘…s’like a cat who finds that perfect ray of sunlight.’_ He thought to himself, reflecting on how Aunt Hemione’s cat often looked so relaxed when he was flopped in a patch of warm sun. _‘Lucky cat. I wonder if they know how good they’ve got it…they can relax and nap and stretch out in the warmth any time they please without anyone badgering them. Perfectly relaxed…curled up in a little ball of fur…’_

And that was how Albus suddenly found himself sitting on the bottom of the shower, hissing and meowing in such distress as water overwhelmed him, drenching his black fur as he skittered out of the shower stall, running across the floor with his claws clicking as he went. He had darted under one of the benches and peered at the shower he had just run from. That was horrifying. It was a bit like drowning, he reckoned. He remained crouched down as he allowed the human part of his brain to process what had just happened to him. 

Claws? Check. Heightened eyesight? Check. Swishy tail? Check. 

He crawled out from under the bench, swiftly jumping up onto another bench and trotting down the length of it toward the wall on the opposite end of the locker room. He knew what he was. He knew it was blatantly obvious, but he had to see for himself.

It wasn’t until he sat down and stared in the full-length mirror before him that he realized that he wasn’t even a fully grown house cat. 

_‘Merlin’s saggy y-fronts.’_ He mentally chastised. Well, he assumed he chastised. For all he knew his thought process was stuck on wanting to dry off and go sleep in a fresh pile of laundry.

Changing back was easier than changing into and a very human, very naked Albus found himself sitting on the bench staring at himself.

“…holy shit.” 

He immediately went back to turn off the shower, grabbing his towel and his clothes.

On the one hand, he finally figured it out. He _actually_ did it. But on the other hand…Rose and Scorpius were never going to let him live this down. He just knew it.

\-------------------------------------------

It was Scorpius who found him first. The boy had been returning to the dorm when Albus made his Animagus debut, slinking out from the shadows and making sure his mew was just pathetic enough to gain Scorpius’s attention. (It was a little known fact to the public, but all of his friends knew Scorpius was a bit of a sucker for small, fluffy animals. He refused to let go of Albus’s ferret for almost an entire year.) 

Scorpius immediately stopped upon hearing the noise and he spotted the black kitten approaching him slowly. He didn’t even have to say “awww” for Albus to know what he was thinking, and it didn’t take long before the blond was crouching on the ground and extending a hand.

“…well, come here. It’s okay,” Scorpius was saying. Albus had never realized just how tall his best friend was, but now that he was maybe a foot tall himself he was definitely starting to become a little intimidated. He mewed again and Scorpius took that as permission to step forward and scoop him up with one hand. Holding the kitten at eye-level, Scorpius scrutinized him for a minute before smiling again and scratching him behind the ears.

“You’re not somebody’s pet, are you?” He murmured, and Albus inwardly cringed as he felt and heard himself start to purr under the use of Scorpius’s fingers. The boy didn’t say anything else as he approached the door to the Slytherin dorms, uttering the password and climbing in through the portrait hole. The common room, thankfully, was fairly empty. It was a Hogsmeade weekend after all. Scorpius immediately moved toward their usual couch and gracefully fell back onto it, dropping the kitten into his lap. He continued petting the small animal, scratching at his ears and under his chin and _dear Merlin Albus was seriously going to explode._ Of all things, why a kitten? He’d never know, but he did know he really didn’t want Scorpius to stop.

Luckily for him, Scorpius didn’t move for several hours, switching between reading for class and reading for pleasure and drawing up new designs for who knew what. He allowed the kitten to stay in his lap even as he curled up on the couch to take a nap. It wasn’t until about four hours later that Rose climbed in through the portrait hole, nudging Scorpius’s feet so he’d allow her room on the couch. It didn’t take her long to notice Scorpius’s new friend.

“You bought a cat?” she asked, torn between amused and perplexed.

“Of course not. I found him outside of our dorms. Y’don’t think he belongs to someone here, do you?” Scorpius asked, scooping Albus up around the middle and thrusting him into Rose’s hands. Rose, much like Scorpius, brought the kitten up to her eye level and stared.

Her eyes immediately widened.

“…oh my god,” she said. It was then Albus knew he had to kiss pets from Scorpius goodbye.

“What? What is it?” Scorpius sounded a bit more alarmed than he should have. Rose, however, was having a hard time not laughing as she continued holding the kitten in front of her face, lifting up his left front paw.

“You finally figured it out? That’s amazing.” It was clear she was speaking directly to the kitten, though Scorpius had no idea why.

“…er. What?” This time Rose openly laughed, turning the kitten to face Scorpius.

“Scorpius, meet Alley Cat. Alley Cat, were you ever going to tell Hyper-Scor it was you?” 

The kitten settled for another pathetic mew. It was at least worth it to see the comical look of surprise cross Scorpius’s features.

“ _Albus?_ ” he squeaked. “You sure?” 

“He’s all black except for this little white patch on his paw where you scarred him fifth year. And his eyes are Al’s.” 

Once he looked again, Scorpius had to wonder why he didn’t notice that sooner.

“…holy shit, Al,” he breathed out. The kitten wriggled in Rose’s grip and she let him go. The pair watched the kitten jump off of the couch, disappearing behind it and transforming back into the form of their Gryffindor best friend. 

“…I’m a kitten,” he announced as though it weren’t completely obvious. Rose and Scorpius exchanged looks with each other, then Albus, and then back to each other.

At least they were polite enough to keep their hysterical laughter to a minimum of five minutes.

\-------------------------------------------

As the weather quickly shifted from late summer to fall, Albus came to realize that there were far worse things he could be other than a fluffy little kitten. At least as a kitten he had the liberty to sit on Rose’s shoulder as they wandered the castle without being stopped for questions. At least as a kitten he could duck into their pockets if absolutely necessary. 

Mostly he was just happy that at least as a kitten he could comfortably curl up in Scorpius’s lap as the boy scratched him behind the ears. 

Rose was pretending to read one of her textbooks, but she kept peering over the top of the covers to watch her cousin and the Malfoy heir. Scorpius didn’t seem to mind that his male best friend was currently a small and furry mammal that he was petting and making purr quite loudly. 

Even weeks later she found it to be quite hysterical. Moreso than hysterical she found it to be interesting. Albus rarely stayed in her lap in his Animagus form but he was more than content to stay in Scorpius’s for hours if the boy would let him. If Scorpius was petting his head a certain way, Rose could swear she heard the purring from across the room. One hand was resting on the kitten in his lap, idly scratching and petting the creature’s back while the other worked through some of his own homework.

Interesting, indeed.

Albus didn’t seem to care though. It was nice to be able to just blend into the crowd, he had to admit. He wouldn’t have been able to do the same things he was doing now if he had turned out to be a stag like his grandfather or a large dog like his father’s godfather. Maybe it wasn’t a majestic beast like he’d been hoping. Maybe it wasn’t something strong, powerful and impressive. But it just didn’t matter anymore.

There were far worse things Albus could be instead of a kitten, but there when he really thought about it? There wasn’t much better.


	3. Scorpius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why Scor's chapter turned out longer than Al and Rose's combined I'm not sure. Sorry about that. Ah well. Stay tuned for the next three which will be James Sirius, Lily Luna and Hugo.

\-------------------------------------------  
Scorpius Malfoy knew he was a curious case, but did people really have to stare so openly all the time? 

It was a rhetorical question at best. Scorpius knew exactly why they were staring and sometimes he really wished that things were different.

At the age of five, Draco had reprimanded his son for openly staring at people as they perused Diagon Alley for the first time in several years. Being the precocious child that he was, Scorpius pointed out to Draco that the people were staring at them first. It sort of infuriated Draco, to be honest, and that day he gave his son full permission to stare at anyone he wanted.

When he was about ten years old his father brought him into his study and sat him down. It was then that Scorpius learned a little more about the last Wizarding war, and about his family’s involvement. People were still angry and disgusted with what the Malfoy family had done, especially his grandfather. 

It was why people always stared at Scorpius, and it was why people always judged him immediately.

To a portion of society, he was still nothing short of the son and the grandson of Death Eaters. It didn’t matter that the Malfoy family had been pardoned by Harry Potter himself. It didn’t matter that his mother had absolutely little to no involvement in the war. It didn’t matter that he was not going to be his father.

And it was that day that Scorpius realized he was in for a world that was not going to be a very easy one.

He never told his parents, but one night shortly before he was bound to leave for Hogwarts he had overheard them talking in their bedroom. Being the sneak he was, he knew better than to leave just when the conversation was getting good.

“—the way everyone was looking at us when we were buying his school supplies, Tori.” 

It was worse than Scorpius thought. His father only ever referred to his mother by the nickname in two instances; when he was particularly affectionate, or when he was extremely worried.

“Draco he’s going to be fine,” Astoria assured her husband to absolutely no avail.

“Kids are arseholes,” Draco mumbled, and there was the sound of the bedsprings creaking. One, or both of them, had just sat on the bed. “He’s going to have to face people that will only see him in light of my mistakes. I feel horrible.”

“You cannot be faulted as a man for mistakes you made as a boy,” Astoria whispered. “And Scorpius doesn’t blame you, does he?”

“Of course he doesn’t. I’m not sure he quite understands the reality of the whole situation though. It was a lot to take in for one afternoon when we talked. You know they’re going to cover the second war now in History of Magic. What’s he going to do when he realizes his family was a part of the dark side?” 

“He’s going to deal with it in stride the best way that he can. Like you did. He’s a lot stronger than you think, you know.” 

There was a small sigh from Draco, and Scorpius peered in a little closer to see. His dad had laid his head on his mum’s shoulder and had his eyes closed.

“Why the hell do you put up with me?” 

“Mostly because I love you, but sometimes I question the same thing.” There was a teasing grin on her lips. 

Scorpius pulled away from the door before he could see them kiss. Gross.

Still, it was something to consider. His mother loved his father even after all of the really bad things he’d done during the war. If people still liked his father, then people were going to have to like him and get used to it. He was going to be at Hogwarts for seven years whether people liked it or not.

\-------------------------------------------

He was going to be at Hogwarts for seven very, very long years.

Despite listening to his father’s advice to keep his head up and challenge anyone who dared to challenge him, and despite the courage and hope his mother had instilled in him as he boarded the train, Scorpius knew he was doomed the moment he heard the whispers about the Malfoy heir. As he made his way down the aisle with his things looking for an empty compartment, he heard everything.

“Death Eater scum.”

“Looks just like his father.”

“Can’t believe he’d show his face.”

“My parents told me all about his family.”

“Just ignore him and he’ll bugger off.”

“Yeah either that or he’ll hex us to death.”

Charming, really.

He remembered three very distinct things about that first train ride to Hogwarts. He remembered the whispered gossip, he remembered finishing _Hogwarts: A History_ for the third time, and he remembered the tall girl with the fiery red hair being followed by the scrawny black-haired boy. 

\-------------------------------------------

As often as Rose teased him about saving him and taking him under her wing, he could never bring himself to correct her. After all, how was he supposed to correct something that was completely true?

Thinking back on it now, Scorpius realized that he probably would not have survived his first year at Hogwarts without the protection offered to him by way of Rose’s friendship and then the friendship of her extended family. His father had told him a lot about Harry Potter and his two friends, but he’d never mentioned they had kids of their own. Probably because Draco at the time hadn’t known. Still, he wasn’t going to let old family rivalries get in the way of the only friendships he was developing in his early weeks of school.

Prior to becoming close with Rose, Scorpius found himself victim of a variety of cruel remarks and bullying. He still couldn’t help but flush with anger and embarrassment anytime someone mentioned the day he’d been shoved into the broom cupboard by two older Gryffindors boys. He’d been in there for several hours before someone came along to rescue him.

Of course it was Rose. Why wouldn’t it have been Rose?

He never got around to telling her, but he was eternally grateful for the day she decided to drag him away from the Slytherin table and force him to sit at the Gryffindor table. He was nearly positive it was out of pity. Malfoys weren’t to accept people’s pity, but at the time Scorpius wasn’t entirely fond of being a Malfoy in the first place. Rose’s family didn’t seem entirely hard-pressed at accepting Rose’s word as law. 

Well. All of them except for Albus anyway. 

It was sort of an unspoken agreement between the two boys that they’d never tell Rose what had actually happened that day to earn three weeks of Saturday detention. It really didn’t matter that a lot of harsh words and insults had been flung before spells were flying and the container of frog spawn broke all over the floor of the Potions classroom before Scorpius had pounced on Albus with his fists flying.

Seriously didn’t matter. Rose never really questioned them on the fact either, but she had a hard time hiding her skeptical looks whenever the pair of boys would see frog spawn and burst into laughter.

Initially when he had gone home for the first time since leaving for Hogwarts, Scorpius was nervous to tell his father about his friendship with the Potter-Weasley family. He knew there had been quite a history between his dad and Albus and Rose’s dads, and he knew that his dad still had a temper about certain things if the mutterings of “bloody Saint _Potter_ ” weren’t enough of a tip-off.

Still, he couldn’t avoid the question when they sat down together for Scorpius’s welcome home dinner during Christmas break. He did his best to sit up straight and stare his father in the eye while he proudly told him that he had become friends with Rose Weasley and Albus Severus Potter. He told him about how obnoxious James Potter was sometimes, how Dominique Weasley’s French was nearly as good as his, how Roxanne Weasley was one of the biggest gossips of Gryffindor house and as he continues relaying these facts he noticed that his father was giving him a level stare and his mother was hiding an amused smile. Draco didn’t say anything until Scorpius was finished speaking, and he simply stared at the boy with the most neutral expression he could muster.

“…well. I’m glad you’re making… _friends._ ” He knew his dad was having trouble wrapping his head around the concept, but he was grateful nevertheless.

It wasn’t until after supper when his father left for his study and he was alone with his mother in the parlor that he asked the question that had been nagging him since he got home.

“Is Dad mad I’m friends with Rose and Albus?” 

Astoria regarded her son carefully, all gentle smiles and amused eyes. It was something he loved about his mother, really. She always knew the right way to respond and she never made him feel doubt in his decisions.

“Oh I’m sure your father’s upset just because they’re Weasleys and Potters, but you know he won’t forbid you from being friendly with them.” Astoria paused to sip her evening tea and Scorpius found himself mimicking the action. “Your father loves his pride, but he loves you more. If you’re happy, he’ll be happy. Eventually.” 

Scorpius had no choice but to believe her. He was a bit skeptical at first because of the way his father would grudgingly refer to his friends as “Potter spawn” and “Weasley spawn”, but he usually stopped grumbling shortly after that.

It wasn’t until the summer after their second year when Draco allowed Rose and Albus to stay a few weeks at the Manor that Scorpius realized love really did outweigh pride.

\-------------------------------------------

Sometimes when he was alone, Scorpius would imagine what his life would be like without Albus and Rose in it. He was fairly certain he’d be in far more trouble because he’d have to execute his pranks on his own, but he also was fairly certain he’d be the most lonely child in the history of ever.

By their third year, a majority of the bullying and the staring had stopped. People from their year had started befriending him and he got on quite well with his dormmates. By their fourth year, he had developed other friendships besides Albus’s and Rose’s, and girls were letting their gaze linger on him for entirely different reasons.

It was puzzling, at best.

It didn’t matter to him though. So long as he had Rose and so long as he had Albus, as far as Scorpius was concerned he had everything he’d ever need. As the years went on, his friendships with various members of the Potter-Weasley family grew stronger as well. He found himself becoming particularly close to Albus’s younger sister, Lily Luna. Though the girl was two years his junior and just as much of a Gryffindor as her brother, Lily often sought out Scorpius for mischief and fun (and later for advice she couldn’t get from her own brothers.)

The thing about being friends with people like Albus and Rose was that they both came from a large family. Large families meant a lot of meddling, and a lot of meddling meant a lot of gossip which meant a lot of prying. Scorpius didn’t necessarily mind that particular chain of events, but when they decided to turn it on him it started growing a little bothersome.

He knew that he was the only one of their friends not to have shared their first kiss with someone. He knew that Rose had kissed Montague in their third year shortly after Christmas (“Which was disgusting, really. He used far too much tongue.”) He knew that James was often caught with different girls starting in his fourth year at Hogwarts, and he knew that Albus had even shyly shared a kiss with Felicity Wood during the Christmas party in their fourth year. Even little Lily Luna had kissed someone (poor Lysander Scamander. Didn’t even know what to expect.)

By the time they were in their fifth year Scorpius was the only one who hadn’t experienced such a thing. If he were honest with himself, it wasn’t that he couldn’t find anyone interested. It was really just because he didn’t want to. He had absolutely no interest in snogging people, or dating, or any of the things most of his peers were starting to fall into. Albus never pressed him on the subject, glaring at James whenever the eldest Potter child would tease the blonde mercilessly about the subject.

Rose, however, decided taking matters into her own hands was a necessary move.

“What do you mean I have a date this weekend?” Scorpius blurted out at dinner, staring at Rose with wide grey eyes.

“Morgana Corner. You know, the really pretty Ravenclaw with blond hair. She was very excited to know you’d be _delighted_ to meet her in Hogsmeade this weekend for a date.” Rose’s smug expression was something he was used to seeing after all these years, but this was one of the few times he actually resented it.

“Don’t you think you should have asked me first? What the hell am I supposed to do on a date?” 

“That’s not a real question, is it Hyper-Scor?” Rose laughed. He scowled at her, ignoring the nickname she had christened him with ever since she found out his middle name.

“Well…call it off. Tell her I’m busy. Tell her I’m sick or that I’m dying or _something_ ,” he ranted, viciously stabbing a piece of chicken that was on his plate. 

“I’m not calling off your date for you, Scorpius. Don’t be such a baby. It’s not that bad. It’s just for a few hours, you can have your first kiss and people will stop making fun of you for being a late bloomer.” 

In retrospect, Scorpius realized that this was just Rose’s way of trying to protect him and help him out. At the time though it was just Rose’s way of making his life miserable.

“Not interested.” 

“She’s actually quite nice,” Albus piped up, not quite meeting Scorpius’s eyes as he spoke. “She was a friend of Dominique’s when Dom was still in school.” 

“…” 

“Just a few hours alone in The Three Broomsticks, Scor. We’re not even forcing you to take her to Madam Puddifoot’s. That’s how much we love you.” 

“Wait, who’s not going to Madam Puddifoot’s?” James suddenly cut in, shoving his brother over to have a seat with them.

“Scorpius’s got a date this weekend, don’t you, Scor?” Rose shot him a wicked grin, and he tried to move his foot to the right to stomp on hers. James’ eyes lit up suddenly.

“You. A date.” He snorted loudly, failing to cover most of his laughter. “Sorry, that’s actually kind of hysterical.” 

James’ laughter was the only reason he agreed to the stupid date, really.

\-------------------------------------------

He was only fifteen minutes into his date with Morgana before Scorpius realized he was bored to tears. He wasn’t entirely sure what she was talking about but his years of upbringing by the Black, Malfoy and Greengrass family gave him enough poise and grace to fake it. Instead he was finding he was more entertained trying to find a word to describe the blond girl in front of him.

_‘Boring. Obnoxious. Boroxious?’_

A glance at the clock told him another five minutes had passed. He wordlessly took a sip of his butterbeer, nodding along to whatever Morgana said.

And that was how he found himself pressed back into his chair and a pair of soft lips brushing over his.

Morgana was still leaning over from her seat and waiting for Scorpius to respond, or at least relax. Instead he pulled back and looked at her in surprise. 

_‘Maybe I should have been listening in the first place.’_

“—ose said you probably liked girls that were straight-forward and that’s why I was really excited to get the chance to go on a date with you,” she was saying, all breathless and starry-eyed. “I can’t believe I got to be your first kiss.”

On the one hand, at least it was finally over. At least everyone would stop badgering him now and leave well enough alone. On the other hand, Scorpius couldn’t figure out just what was so great about snogging anyway. Morgana’s lips had been sticky with some kind of gloss and now his lips tasted like…peaches? It had to be peaches. Morgana hadn’t seemed to notice that Scorpius wasn’t responding, taking his silence to mean he was so stunned with wonder with her kiss. 

He was going to kill Rose. A lot. Multiple times.

He looked around Morgana’s head when he saw a flash of red from the corner of his eye. Albus and Rose, little rats that they were, were trying to sneak past his table out the exit of the shop.

_“Hey!”_ he shouted to them, effectively cutting Morgana off. She immediately stopped talking and he briefly apologized as he waved the cousins over.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he spoke with a light tone, but both of them knew he meant serious business. “Care to join us?” 

“We really shouldn’t—“ Albus began.

“Sure,” Rose said immediately, pulling out a chair to sit next to Scorpius and pushing a chair out for Albus to sit next to Morgana. She smiled at the girl. “Hi Morgana. Enjoying yourself?” 

Scorpius was pretty sure he imagined the hint of irritation flash through Rose’s eyes.

“Of course I am. Thanks for setting this up, Rose,” Morgana replied. 

Scorpius was also pretty sure he imagined the challenging, fake tone in Morgana’s voice.

He tried to catch Albus’s eye but the other boy was avoiding his gaze, staring down at the half-empty glass of Butterbeer he had carried from their other table.

There was something very, very odd going on and Scorpius didn’t have a clue what it meant.

\-------------------------------------------

He probably deserved the slap Morgana gave him when he told her he had absolutely no interest in dating her, but at least it was over. He was just grateful that Rose didn’t try to set him up on any more dates for the rest of the year.

He found it a tiny bit odd that Rose stuck closer to him than usual, almost as odd as Albus fixing him with more intense stares than usual.

Scorpius had almost been sorted into Ravenclaw. This whole situation shouldn’t have made him feel so stupid.

The second half of fifth year was more or less a blur of things Scorpius didn’t remember, or didn’t want to remember. O.W.L.s were approaching way too fast and he had to start studying a little harder if he wanted to get into the courses he wished for next year.

There was the massive argument that he and Albus had right before Easter about Rowena Comstock who had taken such a liking to Albus that the dark-haired boy was spending less and less time with his Slytherin friends. Rose didn’t seem to mind as much as Scorpius did, but when the blond approached him about it there was more shouting and punching than he’d ever intended. He remembered Albus breaking his nose, and he remembered biting on the boy’s hand so hard the skin broke and his hand bled on Scorpius’s mouth. James was the one who had found them and broke them apart.

He had no idea what to tell Rose when she got wind of the story. So he shrugged it off and avoided Albus for the rest of the week until they separated for Easter.

Things with Albus were still quietly tense after Easter, though the two boys could sit next to one another without dissolving to screaming matches and fatal blows. Rowena had taken to joining them as well, giving subtle looks to Scorpius and sucking up a little more than necessary to Rose.

Honestly, it drove Scorpius quite mad.

It wasn’t until May 12th that things changed again.

Even now he couldn’t remember how the morning started out. He knew they must have gotten up and sat at the Gryffindor table. He knew they had fallen into the normal routine of Albus sitting with his sort-of girlfriend and exchanging smiles and quips while Rose chattered about the importance of O.W.L.s and how she was thinking of starting a study group because honestly just because she liked schemes as much as Scorpius didn’t mean her mother wouldn’t kill her if she didn’t do well on her exams. And he knew that the daily owl post had come.

His father’s owl wasn’t an unusual sight for Scorpius, the handsome eagle owl gracefully swooping in and landing in front of the boy. He took the letter from the owl, tuning out his friends to read what his father had sent.

And it was then the world fell away. He read the letter again, and again, and again before he realized that he wasn’t misreading anything. The owl had disappeared now that the letter had been delivered and his friends hadn’t noticed anything was wrong yet. It didn’t take long for the talking stopped from his left and he heard Rose say his name. There was a sound that was similar to a sob (and only later did he realize it came from _him_ ) before Scorpius crumpled up the piece of parchment and bolted from the table, disappearing from the Great Hall and bursting out the doors to the school.

“Scorpius, come back!” he heard Rose shout behind him but like hell he was going to go back. He couldn’t go back, not right now. He didn’t need to go back to where people were living their happy, normal lives. 

To his surprise it was Albus who arrived first nearly twenty minutes later. It was Albus who crawled under the bleachers of the Gryffindor Quidditch stands to reach their secret spot. It was Albus who took one look at his sobbing best friend and didn’t even hesitate to crawl up next to him and pull the blond closer, pushing Scorpius’s face into his shoulder to let him cry as much as he needed to.

Rose arrived no more than five minutes later and silently observed the scene. She too crawled through without any hesitation and she curled up around Scorpius’s back, holding on and resting her cheek against his shoulder.

Scorpius knew he didn’t have to say anything, and they knew nothing needed to be said. They stayed like that, the two cousins more or less crushing themselves against Scorpius as he sobbed and babbled incoherently until James found them another twenty minutes later.

The next few weeks were stressful, to say the least. He wasn’t allowed to attend his father’s trial to determine if he had indeed murdered his wife. They couldn’t proceed with Astoria’s funeral until Draco’s charges had been dropped, and even when his father’s name was proven innocent the stress didn’t go away. Once Draco was back in his own home he pulled his son out of school for the funeral preparations. His father had been too upset and distracted to notice the two extra bodies in his son’s bed the night before the funeral, or perhaps he just didn’t care anymore. Scorpius had tried to articulate the fact that it meant a lot that Albus and Rose had bunked off from school for Astoria’s funeral, but Albus just told him to shut up and Rose just hugged him tighter. 

The two of them returned to school a week before Scorpius came back. Everything that he had been worried about prior to the news of his mother’s death was irrelevant now. The way Rowena hung all over Albus, the way Rose was trying to encourage him to focus on his O.W.L.s…none of it mattered.

It’s a miracle he passed his exams with what he did, and he scraped by with a handful of O.W.L.s. Draco hadn’t blamed him at all, of course. 

Things hadn’t returned to normal until about the middle of their sixth year. It had nearly been a year since Astoria’s murder, but Scorpius was finding it was getting a little easier to adjust every day. He was also finding that he wanted distractions. Lots and lots of distractions. Most of his distractions came in the form of new plans he would never carry out, plans he _would_ carry out with Rose’s help (and Albus’s if they could pull him away from Rowena long enough), schoolwork, Quidditch and Exploding Snap. Those distractions weren’t enough though. They still left him with far too much time to let his mind wander toward the things he didn’t want to think about. He needed to find new distractions, distractions that didn’t require a lot of mental work. 

\-------------------------------------------

The first of these new distractions came in the form of the Ravenclaw Prefect, Marissa Boot. 

Now if there was one thing Scorpius had learned from his father during his years growing up it was how to bargain and how to get out of trouble when it came to the more delicate sex. Getting caught sneaking around the school late at night by a Prefect should have meant instant detention. Boot wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, how the Malfoy boy had managed to con her with some sweet-talking and the charming grin, but she found herself tucked away into an alcove in the hallway snogging the blonde heatedly.

It was perfect, really. Scorpius was able to get himself out of trouble and he was able to just shut his mind down completely as his tongue slid inside the brunette’s mouth. Snogging, Scorpius found, while not that appealing was a very simple and very mindless activity. One would think the boy was receiving some sort of pleasure from it, but it wasn’t the kind of pleasure one would expect.

After that night Scorpius realized that the mindless indulgence was the perfect thing to get over all of the rubbish that had happened the year before. 

It was only after a night with Marissa in the Room of Requirement that Scorpius recognized that something was amiss. Naturally he was proud of his ability to snog the girl senseless. Arrogant as he was, he didn’t object when Marissa asked him to take their hook-ups further. However even when he had the girl on her back gasping and panting as his tongue worked against her clit he still was seeing everything as mindless indulgence. Shouldn’t he been at least half-way turned on by this? That was normal as far as he knew. He’d heard the boys in his dorm talk about their conquests with various girls all the time. This wasn’t exactly what he’d pictured. 

He was at least enough of a gentleman to bring the girl to her orgasm before he quietly stepped back, feeding her a lie and slipping out of the room to speed-walk back to his room.

Rose was at least polite enough to pretend that his silence wasn’t perturbing at best. She and Albus both knew that there were just some days he still wasn’t 100% better and they were okay with that. If Albus wasn’t caught up with Rowena, he would join them in the Slytherin common room like always on their couch. That particular week though had been very Albus-Severus-free and even Rose was scowling a little as she and Scorpius settled in. His head was in its usual place in her lap and her fingers were idly playing with his hair. His eyes were half-shut as she continued reading her book.

“…so when are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” she spoke suddenly as she continued petting his hair.

“What?”

“You’re quiet. It’s a different kind of quiet than the quiet about your mum. So what is it?” 

“It’s nothing,” he blurted out immediately. He pretended not to notice Rose lifting an eyebrow.

“Pull the other, it has bells on it.” 

“Rose,” he sighed, burrowing his face into her thigh. “It’s a boy thing, don’t worry about it.” 

“…right. Thanks.” 

“…it’s not like that. It’s just. You know what, I’m getting really tired of everyone in the dorm sharing sex stories and I have absolutely nothing to contribute.”

It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was enough of the truth to satisfy her. She didn’t speak for a moment, examining the top of Scorpius’s head before snorting softly and tugging on a few locks of his hair.

“Idiot. It’s not as though I do either,” she said.

“But it’s different for you because you’re a girl.” He knew he shouldn’t have said it. Of if he was going to say it, he shouldn’t have phrased it like that because the look Rose was giving him was enough to make anyone recoil in horror.

“How the hell is it any different?”

“…girls don’t really discuss those sort of things, do they?” 

“I reckon I’ve spent more time in the girls’ dorms than you have.” She pulled on his hair again. “They always spend time talking about you and the other idiots on the Slytherin Quidditch team.”

“…yeah?” He suddenly perked up, interested in what she had to say. “Like what?” He ignored the way Rose rolled her eyes.

“Stupid things really. Just how they wish the Quidditch trousers were tighter, abs you could bounce a Galleon off of, shiny hair…stupid.” Likewise, she ignored the way Scorpius began prodding at his abdomen.

“…Montague likes your tits. And Avis asked me if the carpet matches the drapes the other day.” He couldn’t keep the tone of disgust out of his voice. 

“It’s so superficial, isn’t it? All any of them care about is how good-looking anyone is. Nobody cares about brains or personalities. Boys are probably worse than girls. All they really care about is getting a leg up.”

It was then that Scorpius latched onto an idea, and he suddenly sat up from Rose’s lap. He didn’t speak for a moment, patting down his hair as he hauled himself off of the couch.

“You’re right about that,” he said with a vague smile. “I’ll be back later, I just remembered I have a Charms essay to finish.” He ignored Rose’s protests as he quickly absconded down the stairs to the boys’ dormitory. He had a hypothesis to test, and he had to draft up the plans carefully.

\-------------------------------------------

He spent the next couple of days ignoring the anger and annoyance he felt both from listening to his dormmates talk about Rose’s body and watching Rowena hang all over Albus. Instead he put all of his energy into hatching his plans, picking his prey and stalking it.

Snogging the girl Prefect from Ravenclaw had worked to get himself out of trouble. Why wouldn’t snogging the boy Prefect from Hufflepuff work? Tracking down Jordan Carmichael wasn’t that hard. Scorpius knew exactly what halls the boy patrolled at night and he knew exactly where he would be at any given moment. He had to give himself credit for his great acting skills as he strolled out into the open, letting Jordan catch him wandering out of bed after hours. 

The pieces fell right into place just as they had with Marissa. Sweettalking and conning him into letting him off the hook seemed to work for Jordan as well, and when Scorpius moved in to seal the deal Jordan definitely didn’t resist.

The problem, Scorpius realized, was that he wasn’t finding snogging another bloke to be any more enjoyable than snogging a girl. Jordan Carmichael was hardly any more memorable than Marissa Boot, but Scorpius knew he had to go through with all tests to make sure there wasn’t a flaw in the data.

Convincing Jordan to let him go down on him was a little more challenging than it had been with Marissa, but a flash of the Malfoy-infamous smirk and a promise that he knew the best locking charms found the two of them in a nearby broom cupboard and Scorpius on his knees. Much like with Marissa, he was polite enough to finish the boy off before pardoning himself and disappearing from sight.

He didn’t understand it. Maybe he was just defective? That had to be it. Everyone his age was attracted to someone whether it was a girl or a boy, but he wasn’t attracted to anyone. What the hell made him so special?

The new problem, Scorpius realized, was that he didn’t have anyone to talk to. Not really, anyway. He couldn’t go to Albus about this, and he most certain couldn’t go to Rose. The two of them would just…coddle him. He knew them by now. They’d just tell him it was okay, he could go his own speed, he wasn’t defective, etc. 

And then they’d tease him mercilessly. 

It wasn’t until he was nearly back to the dungeons that it hit him. He actually knew exactly who he could ask without judgment and reservation, and he didn’t think twice before turning tail and running to the Owlery to send off a short note.

\-------------------------------------------

He didn’t even need to look up from his place by the Black Lake to know who was approaching him from behind. She was right on time, and as she dropped her bag next to his head she carelessly fell next to him, sticking her face in his with her long red hair dangling over his nose.

“You really ought to consider a haircut, LiLu,” he said conversationally, grinning at her. Lily Luna Potter simply huffed, tucking her hair behind her ear before turning to mimic Scorpius’s post and laying on her back. She used her bag as a pillow, folding her hands over her stomach and turning her head to glance at him.

“I know you didn’t call me out here to give me hair advice,” she replied, lightly flicking him in the arm. “Though I wouldn’t mind if you did. It’s gorgeous out today.”

“Aren’t you supposed to still be in Transfiguration?” he suddenly asked, registering the time.

“I figured this was more important. Usually you ask Al for advice.” 

The thing about Lily Luna was that despite only being a fourth year, she was a very smart girl and she never held back her opinions on anything. They were both traits that got her in trouble a lot of the time, and they were also both traits that would have served her well in Slytherin, but she was ultimately fated to be another part of the lion pack. Scorpius didn’t say anything for a moment, turning away to look at the sky.

“…I’ll be seventeen in a week,” he started.

“I know. Albus has been completely freaking out trying to find a good present for you.” 

Scorpius couldn’t help but snort. “What, he has time to go shopping for me outside of his dates with Rowena?” 

“…didn’t you hear? They broke up.” 

“—wait, what?”

“He didn’t want to talk about it, but he says he dumped her a few days ago. Something about not being compatible, though you think he’d realize that before he wasted a whole year with her.”

Part of him was really actually frustrated that Albus hadn’t bothered sharing that particular detail with him. On the other hand though, part of him…felt…oddly elated. Really, really happy that Albus was free from other obligations and that he could spend time with him and Rose again.

“No. He didn’t tell me at all. And I don’t think he told Rose because she didn’t mention it to me either.”

“Oh.” Lily looked genuinely surprised. “Well he didn’t tell us until this morning. Maybe he’s just waiting to make sure it’s official.” 

“…relationships are so stupid.”

“They’re pretty messy,” she agreed nonchalantly. “But what do they have to do with your birthday?”

“Hm? Oh, right. I just…can you keep a secret?” 

“Bit late to be asking me that, isn’t it?” 

“I just need to know,” he insisted. He trusted Lily, no doubt. He trusted Lily a lot, but this was suddenly a much bigger thing than he had originally anticipated.

“Sure. What is it?”

“…I think I’m defected.”

“…how do you mean?” 

“I mean I think I’m defected. Everyone’s attracted to everyone else, and I’m attracted to absolutely no one and I’m not entirely sure if that’s normal.” 

“Does it really matter?” 

“Sort of. Albus was with Rowena, and Rose has a thing for some of the boys in our house, I just know it. But I don’t. And if they both pair off with someone and I don’t…”

“…ah,” she said shortly. “This is about Albus practically abandoning you because of Rowena, isn’t it?”

“Sort of, maybe.”

“…Scor, let me ask you something. Do you care that any of your other friends are in relationships or are fooling around with people?”

“Not particularly.”

“And do you know the in-depth innerworkings of their relationships and romantic conquests?” 

“…no.”

“And if you weren’t worried about the threat of Albus and Rose leaving, would you be worried about not being attracted to anyone at all?”

“I don’t know.”

Lily suddenly sat up, peering down into his face with her piercing green eyes. They were a slightly different shade than Albus’s, but they were a bit sharper, a bit scarier. He didn’t dare more while she analyzed him for god-knows-what.

“…you’re fine, Scorpius,” she said with a funny little smile. “You might not think so, but you’re fine. You’re going to be fine, and someday when you figure out what it is you want you’re going to understand.”

“Wait,” he interrupted, blinking in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Sort of exactly what I just said. When you figure it out what you want, you’ll understand. But it’s something you have to figure out on your own, okay? I can’t help you, Al and Rose can’t help you, it just has to be you.”

“…I can’t believe I’m getting dating advice from a fourteen year old,” he grumbled, also sitting up.

“Hey, you asked!” She rose to her feet and grabbed her bag, holding out a hand to pulling Scorpius up with her. “And when you figure it out, you’ll tell me, won’t you?”

“Maybe. I love you, LiLu, but not that much. It depends.”

“I just want to know if I’m right!”

“…right about?”

“Never mind!” she said brightly, swinging their joined hands back and forth between them as they began the trek back up to the castle. “Just…promise me when you figure it out you’re not going to think it’s a bad thing, okay?” 

“Way to sound cryptic. I’m sure it’s fine.” In the distance, the bell sounded to announce it was time for lunch break. “Come on. I’ll race you.” He dropped her hand and took off running, laughing as he heard her yelling behind him and watching her catch up from the corner of his eye. 

Even if he didn’t have a clue what Lily was trying to say, the fact that he told someone made him feel much better.

\-------------------------------------------

He’d spent the whole summer between sixth and seventh year thinking about what Lily had said and thinking about what he really wanted. He had a lot of decisions he needed to make in his life. He needed to decide what he wanted to do after Hogwarts, he needed to decide what he wanted romantically, and he needed to decide what he wanted to do for his first prank of the school year.

However, the first decision he needed to make was what time he would meet up with Rose and Albus at their usual spot at the lake on the first Saturday after term started. It was a Saturday before Quidditch practices started, and it was before the homework load got to be too much. None of them had an excuse.

As the three of them rendezvoused at the lake after lunch that day, he couldn’t help but grin as he lazily draped himself over Rose and Albus’s laps. Albus was chattering about the research he’d done on his Animagus form, and Rose was occasionally interrupting with facts she’d read on the subject in her own spare time. It was peaceful, really, having the familiar stream of thoughts provided by his best mates while sitting in a patch of warm sunlight and watching the giant squid’s tentacles occasionally pop up from the water. From his place on the ground, he could keep both of them in his eyesight. 

Rose’s hair was definitely prettier in the light. Her cheeks hollowed out a little more and her bone structure was really showing this year. As for Albus, his eyes were still as vibrant green as ever, and Scorpius found that he was a little more than grateful that it was still t-shirt weather. Albus was definitely still in shape for Quidditch.

And it was about in the middle of his muses that cold realization washed over Scorpius and his eyes widened, darting back and forth between the two of them.

_‘When you figure out what you want, you’ll understand.’_

The two of them were too engrossed in their conversation to notice Scorpius having a mild anxiety attack as his brain tried to rationalize what the hell he had just discovered.

_‘So. You fancy both of them. And you’re just now realizing this. But you don’t fancy anyone else. So…what do you do?’_

_‘I’m still trying to figure that out, thank you.’_

_‘Lily’s right, of course. They won’t care.’_

_‘It disrupts the trifecta!’_

_‘You’re being an idiot.’_

_‘I know!’_

“Scor?” Albus’s voice came from somewhere to his right. Both he and Rose were peering down into his face, and Rose tugged on his bangs lightly.

“There you are. We thought we lost you to the land of the daft,” Rose chided. “Are you okay?”

“…yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” 

He knew both of them were sharing skeptical looks because of the wide, slightly manic grin on his face, but he didn’t care. 

“Anyway so you’re small and agile, whatever you are,” he continued the last line of conversation he heard from Albus. “What else?”

Albus didn’t erase the suspicious look, but he continued talking with Rose offering suggestions. Scorpius almost had to laugh at how _normal_ everything was and how much sense everything suddenly made.

He knew that what he felt for both of them was something stronger than he could ever feel for anyone else, but he didn’t care. He knew that caring as deeply for both Albus and Rose as he did was going to ruin everything somehow, but he still didn’t care.

All he really cared about was that he’d finally solved it, and so long as he had the two of them by his side he could figure out everything else later.


End file.
